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Monthly Archives: November 2015

I finally finished the Nanoblock version of the Tokyo SkyTree. In doing so, I thought a comparison between the Microblock version and the Nanoblock version would make a good post. My only question was how should I organize it. I also decided to put together a rough video so you could see them both side by side.

The Video

This fragile part took a very long time.

What took me so long…..

Well, the basic truth is that it was hard. There were some fiddly pieces that proved rather frustrating. The creators (Kawada) indicated that the difficulty level on this build was a 5. I thought that they were joking….but they weren’t. A couple of times, I just had to get up and walk away. I even considered crazy gluing the thing together.

Size and Shape

The Microblock version is much bigger than the Nanoblock version. The Microblock Skytree is much mroe symmetrical and relies on more standard pieces. The Nanoblock Skytree is not linearly symmetrical and relies on incorporating a couple of really tough pieces. These include a round, slightly angled piece that must have originally been used in their Leaning Tower of Pisa model and another piece whose shape I am unable to describe–luckily I am including a photograph.

Construction

Difficult lower sections

Both had their difficulty when constructing the lower portion of the tower. The Nanoblock version was a bit more fragile and required more than one sitting to get it done. At one point, I finally got the base together and decided to leave it for a month, hoping that the pieces would somehow meld together strongly in my absence. Somehow it worked…or else I might have gone for the crazy glue.

Price

I can’t really comment on this because the Nanoblock version was bought in Japan for about $30 and brought to me whereas the Microblock version was a birthday present. I suspect that on those terms the Microblock version costs more. However, considering their availability in Canada, Nanoblocks cost more. I am not even sure you can get this one in Canada. I will have to check.

Looks

The blue interior of the Microblock version

The Microblock version has the nice interior blue effect–achieved by stacking a large number of clear blue square tiles together. The Nanoblock version seems to be somewhat closer to the original–but you can be the judge of that. I base that on its use of round tube like structures to replicate the original.

Other thoughts

Both look good and are interesting builds. In Japan, you can buy a base that lights up and will produce a different effect. Additionally, there is a deluxe version (read expensive) available which seems really cool.

I haven’t written much about hobbies lately because there really hasn’t been much time to devote to hobbies. That’s probably not one hundred percent true, but that’s how it feels. It hasn’t stopped me from thinking about my hobbies.

On YouTube, I have seen two things that always struck me as interesting, but not overly applicable to me. The first was a subscription service for Japanese candy. You pay a fee every month and they send you candy from Japan. The second was those “lucky bags” in Japan where, depending on the store, you pay a price and get a mystery bag of stuff that is supposed to be worth more than you paid. This is a once a year deal in Japan, but the idea sounds interesting enough.

Little did I know, this idea has really taken off. There are literally hundreds of mystery box subscriptions in a large number of areas. There are ones for makeup. There are ones for health. There are ones for comic books. There are ones for young adult books. There are ones for coffee or beer. There is even one for bricks–I can’t say Lego because there are a lot of different bricks out there these days.

The price for these boxes seems to start at $20 and climb from there. I have seen ones that were more than $75. Nonetheless, It would kind of be like Christmas every month. Some months you’d get the gift from your cool uncle and other months you get the gift from the grumpy family member. What I mean to say is that some months you would probably be thrilled while other months you might be a tad disappointed.

In some cases, the stuff you would get would probably be things that didn’t sell well, or were over produced. Still, it might be interesting.

Does that mean I am going to subscribe?

So far, the one that I have found to be the most interesting is one that introduces a new hobby to you every month. It seems kind of interesting, but I could imagine that I won’t like every hobby. I know I love a lot of hobbies….but I know there are ones that are not really interesting.

What I would like to see are subscription boxes in the following areas:

Trains. (Either N scale or HO scale) The subscription service could fill a box with a car or two, a building or two, some scenery stuff, a book, and maybe even some paint, or some 3D printed stuff. It could also have some stickers, or other railroad material inside.

Plastic Models. There are so many plastic models that probably don’t sell that this would be the perfect idea to lighten some inventory loads. Again, books, paint, accessories, tools, and other goods would all fit in well in this box.

mini cars. A service that gives you cars from all over the world. Sounds awesome to me.

Robots. Every month could have accessories and modifications to your previous build.

If anyone subscribes to a hobby based subscription box, I would love to hear from you. I am curious and I want to know more. Also, any positive or negative feedback about subscription services would be nice. If I can’t find what I want, I may have to start one up.

After publishing this post

I decided to search if WP to see if there was a topic on his. I found it under subscription. I will also look there while waiting for your replies.